david plouffe and high powered d.c. attorney, bob barnett. >> that's not what i do as president, as commander in chief. >> advisers say the last debate as hofstra was the strongest performance they've seen in public or private and they're hoping for a repeat. tonight, a twofold strategy. first, the president goes on offense. like we've seen on the trail. >> i told you i'd end the war in iraq and we did. i said we'd wind down the war in afghanistan in a responsible way and we are. al-qaeda's on the path to defeat. osama bin laden is dead and today, osama bin laden is dead. osama bin laden is dead. al-qaeda's on the run. and osama bin laden is no more. >> then to protect obama's vulnerableties, the president will try to put romney on the defensive as he did in his libya answer during the last debate. >> and the suggestion that anybody in my team, the secretary of state, our un ambassador, anybody on my team, would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. >> what you saw in the deba